Generally, a faucet is installed near a bathroom sink or a kitchen sink and is connected to a boiler to allow a user to selectively use cold or hot water.
The main body of the faucet is generally used in combination with a plurality of auxiliary components such as a valve, an operation lever, a packing rubber, and connection hoses. The main body of the faucet is conventionally made of brass because brass is easily shaped in a molding process.
However, in most cases, the work environment in which the main body of a faucet is manufactured using a molding process amuses environmental pollution. Furthermore, hazardous substances (graphite, impurities, or the like) remain on the molded main body. Therefore, the pollutants in the environment of the workplace and/or the hazardous substances used in the molding process remain in the main body of the faucet. When the main body is installed in the faucet, drinking water from the faucet may be hazardous to a person's body. Aside from this, since the working environment in which the molding process is performed is unsanitary and/or dangerous, workers are reluctant to work there.
In addition, when the body of the faucet is installed in the faucet and used, the inside surface of the body is corroded by water after a long period of use, causing unsanitary conditions inside the faucet. This pollutes drinking water and endangers the health of people drinking water from the faucet.
Furthermore, the body of the faucet is made of brass and thus has high thermal conductivity. For this reason, when using hot water, users, especially elderly people and children, can be easily burned, even from having brief skin contact with the faucet.
Further still, since the body of the faucet is manufactured in the form of one integrated body, different molds are used to produce faucets of different designs. This increases the production cost of faucets.
To solve the problems in the conventional brass faucet made by molding process, KR patent No. 10-1064920 allowed to the present applicant suggested a main body of faucet and a method for manufacturing the same. The main body is fabricated by forming internal molding assemblies made of corrosion-resistant and non-hazardous materials to human beings with a high heat resistance, combining the internal molding assemblies in a base body by double injection molding process and plating nickel-chromium onto the exterior of the combined structure, whereby the problems of unsanitary conditions in use of the brass body, and burning risk by high thermal conductivity may be solved.
However, there is another problem that the connecting portions of the combined structure by plating of metals has inferior durability.